When it comes to eye makeup the main desire is to attract attention to the eye, making your art (and natural beauty) stand out! This is a step by step guide to creating correct eye makeup application that will help you complete your makeup like a professional!

The main element you will have to take in account first will be the eye shape. It took me a while to understand why a certain makeup look doesn't look as good on me as on someone else. The reason? I have deep set eyes, and for example, I was attempting to create a makeup look that was modeled on a girl with almond shape eyes. This attempt resulted in my prominent brow bone creating shadows in the areas where I didn't want these shadows to be, which made my version very different from what I was trying to replicate. This example was a long time ago, when first starting my journey into professional Makeup Artistry, and I have come a long way since then – and I’m eager to share these important tips to achieving your best eyeshadow application with you!

1) First, you will need to determine the eye shape you are working with before beginning the makeup application. There are several eye shapes: round, almond, monolid, hooded, small, protruding, downturn, upturn and deep set eyes. When you’ve confirmed the correct shape you are working with, you can move on to the next step.

2) The eye color you are working with on your client (or on yourself) is also an important factor in choosing the right eyeshadow color. Depending on the eye color, some colors can make you look tired while others will make your eyes look bright and sultry. You always have to use products that compliment your eye color. For example, for blue eyes choose oranges, reds and warm browns, for green eyes, purples, burgundy and warm browns or red colors are the ones that will make your eyes pop, for brown eyes any eyeshadow color is destined to look great!

3) If you want the eye makeup to be perfect and professional – you will need to ‘invest’ in some great brushes. There are a ton of brushes on the market right now (and luckily, they really don't have to be very expensive!); Morphe Brushes, E.L.F, or Real Techniques have really good quality affordable brushes! The other plus? You won’t need to have a ton of brushes, it will be enough to have 4-5 varying brushes to apply eye makeup.

Quick guide to must-have brush types:

1. The soft and fluffy brush is for creating shadows i.e. dimension in the crease, and for blending.

2. A slightly firm and rounded brush is for a more controlled eye shadow application and blending.

3. A flat dense brush is for applying pigmented color onto the lid.

4. A flat and sharp brush is for precise application (you can use it for highlighting your inner corner and brow bone, or for defining your lower lash line, or even for tightlining and eyeliner application.

5. Eyeliner brush, which is the primary option that can be used for tightlining and eyeliner application.

When you have answered all of the above questions (you know the eye shape, you’ve chosen the right eyeshadow color(s) for the eyes, and you have brushes on hand) here comes the most interesting, creative, and fun part—makeup application!

Below are some tips for a perfect eye makeup application, an example of a professional classic smokey eye:

· Pay attention to the inner corner of your eye, which always should be a slightly lighter highlight to “open up” your eyes.

· Medium eyeshadow on the lid and the dark eye shadow in the outer corner.

· Or you can even skip the medium and apply a dark eyeshadow to the outer “V”.

· The same goes with the lower eyelid: light-medium-dark.

· The brow bone has to also be gently highlighted to “lift” the brow and to create an illusion of a bigger eye. This is a classic technique that works for all eye shapes. Again, light-medium-dark.

1. First tip is to use primer! Always! This will even out the skin color of your eyelids if you have veins or discoloration, it will make the payoff of the eyeshadow color and pigment much better and it will make your eyeshadows stay the whole day without fading. The benefits to an eyeshadow primer are truly endless!

2. Always use a light hand when applying eyeshadows onto the crease. I think this tip is the most important! It will prevent your eye makeup from cracking and it will make your blending more diffused. Take the brush closer to the end of the wand as it will lessen the pressure onto the bristles and thus will make the eyeshadow application appear more delicate.

3. You should always go from the lightest shade to the darkest in the crease! Prep your crease with the light brown eyeshadow first and then take medium brown and then dark brown or even black eyeshadow. Prepping your crease with a lighter shade will make it easier for you to blend the darker shade later. You can even blend in between each eyeshadow application with a clean brush to make the blending appear more professional. For monolids (such as Asian eyes) you will have to create a crease yourself and the steps going from lighter to darker eye shadow will be incredibly helpful.

4. The darker eyeshadow, the smaller the brush should be. This will make your application more precise to the areas which need to be darker to emphasize your eyes (outer corner, for example). Smaller brushes will give you more control and this is exactly what you need when working with a darker shade.

5. Don’t apply too high on your upper eyelid or too low on your lower eye lid with dark eyeshadows; this exception is if you are looking to achieve a ‘messier’ look with your eyeshadow for the specific style (ie: grunge, goth, rocker, etc).

6. Don’t take too much product on your brush, you can always add additional color later; it is much easier to add than subtract color!

7. If somehow you applied more eyeshadow than you needed and want to dilute it, take a matte light (ecru or nude) eye shadow on a fluffy brush and go along the area you want to make lighter. It will really help you to blend everything. Sometimes light shimmery eyeshadows or pigments can help you even out and blend color even better than matte ones.

8. Tap off the excess every time you grab the eyeshadow from a pan. It will save you from fallouts.

9. Another element that can save you from fallout eyeshadow is applying a lot of loose translucent powder that you would apply underneath your eye area before applying dark eye shadows and then dusting it off when you are finished doing your eye makeup. Though, I would not recommend this technique for individuals who have creases under the eyes as by doing this you may accentuate the creases even more.

10. Don't be afraid of tightlining, it will create a huge difference and will make your lashes look thicker and deeper. It is especially helpful for those with hooded eyes as the skin over the eye will hide the eyeliner. With a hooded eye you can even skip the eyeliner and go straight for the tightlining instead.

Our last tricks:

-If you want any eyeshadow to give you more color and be more opaque you will look to choose a creamy white base underneath (blended out before the final color eyeshadow application).

-If you want your lighter eyeshadow to pop even more you can use a darker base for them, it can be a brown or black eye pencil, or cream eyeshadow, or even a gel liner. One thing that matters is it has to be a cream based product (so that the eyeshadow sticks to it), and it will also be blended out with a white base. Keep in mind, if you use a powder black base the color will not show up. This trick works especially well if you use metallic or foiled eyeshadows or pigments or glitter on top of this base.

Be creative, experiment with different techniques, find what works best for you and your eye shape and color! Once you’ve perfected these techniques it will take less than 10 minutes to perfectly blend your eyeshadows and make your eyes beautifully stand out!